Sterling Bigmouth wrote:Hopefully we can agree, but please God, let ANYBODY but the Yankees win it all.

Only way I root for the Yankees is if they play LA.

Certainly yesterday was a good day for my boys stealing one from Max Scherzer but today is a new day. I'm confident we get this done but you never know.

I will say that the thing that has surprised me the most was the Dodgers sweeping the Diamondbacks. I truly thought that Arizona was a the better team going in.

This has the makings of being one of the strangest baseball stories I've seen in a long time. Guy gets fired as GM, goes down to the field to coach for another team, then the guys who replaced him hire him to field manage the club? WTF? I blame Clams.

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/1 ... r-manager/

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Cubs-Cardinals at Wrigley. Tied 1-1. Lackey on the mound with 2 outs and 2 on, Carlos Martinez at the dish, 2-2 count. Ump calls this motherfucker a ball (pitch 5)



Lackey tries to charge the mound, Contreras the catcher stops him. Next pitch Martinez hits a line drive single Cardinals up 2-1, Lackey goes for the ump again and gets tossed, Contreras gets tossed. Worst call I've ever seen. Robo umps time.

no one mentioned OK Cupid?

Stephen Strasburg declines Game 4 start after rainout, leaving Nationals running for cover

Strangest story I've ever seen. Shit, I mean I'll gladly face Roark but this is so odd. Strasburg signed a $175 mil contract one year ago and he won't take the ball on normal rest, mold or no mold? Time to close this out and send Dusty Baker into retirement.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:Stephen Strasburg declines Game 4 start after rainout, leaving Nationals running for cover

Strangest story I've ever seen. Shit, I mean I'll gladly face Roark but this is so odd. Strasburg signed a $175 mil contract one year ago and he won't take the ball on normal rest, mold or no mold? Time to close this out and send Dusty Baker into retirement.

Is it possible that Dusty is trying to be tricky? After all he doesn't have any other redeeming qualities in his bag of tricks. He certainly can't manage a rotation and bullpen adequately. If not then this excuse of mold count in Chicago makes Strasburg look like a gaping pussy the width of Texas. Or a dick if you'd like.

Go Cubbies! Finish them off tonight and don't let the Du-Sty chants commence until the Nationals have hit the clubhouse.

John Farrell launched as Red Sox Manager. Guessing he gets another job immediately.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:John Farrell launched as Red Sox Manager. Guessing he gets another job immediately.

Just came here to post this and get the Red Sox fan's perspective. From a distance, he has always left a pretty good impression on me. He certainly appears to be an upgrade over Dusty if the Nationals happen to get bounced in the next two days.

I was never a big fan of John Farrell’s decision making, but hey, he won a World Series, made millions, and is leaving at the perfect time in my opinion. I’m sure there’s a job out there waiting for him.

Speaking of managers I disagree with a lot, who the Hell knows what Dusty Baker is doing with this whole Stephen Strasburg saga?

Yankees. Whoa.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:OK, fuck it. Here we go:

NLDS- Chicago vs Washington
Cubs in 5
NLDS- Arizona vs LA
Diamondbacks in 4

ALDS- Boston vs Houston
Houston in 5
ALDS- Yankees vs Cleveland
Indians in 5

NLCS- Arizona vs Chicago
Diamondbacks in 6

ALCS-Houston vs Cleveland
Indians in 6

WS- Arizona vs Cleveland
Indians in 5

The Yankees??!!! Who could have seen that coming? Wow.

Somebody needs to help me unravel/understand the Strasburg soap opera. Where's Shakespeare when we need him?

I can only imagine the angst in cubs land today. Take a deep breath folks.

I won't mention Arizona, TC.

Farrell's firing was inevitable. As always there is room to debate how much of any given situation is the manager's fault and in this case it's clearly well less than 100%. But Farrell has never been overwhelmingly popular in the Nation, w/ a substantial faction howling for his removal for quite some time. The complaints usually center on "in game management" and while I've agreed w/ some of it over time, on the whole I think that POV was seriously exaggerated.

There's plenty of blame to go around for the entirely foreseeable failure to replace Ortiz and for thinking that Price was a good fit here. Hopefully his recent relief performances are an indication that Price can at least perform on the mound going forward, but who knows, and he does seem to be a bit injury prone to boot. Nobody could have foreseen Porcello's rise last year or crash this year so that basically balances out I guess. If Mookie and Bogaerts repeated (or even come close to repeating) their respective 2016 seasons we would not be having this discussion at all and I don't see Farrell having much impact on their '17 performance. Pedroia's injury-impacted season mattered a lot but again that was both foreseeable and not Farrell's fault (either that it happened or that the Sox were not totally prepared for it. OTOH it has to be acknowledged that they did make the in-season acquisition of Nunez which worked out very well.

On the whole, I thought the firing was inevitable but not necessary. Obviously who they replace Farrell with will significantly affect the evaluation of the firing decision.

beantownbubba wrote:On the whole, I thought the firing was inevitable but not necessary. Obviously who they replace Farrell with will significantly affect the evaluation of the firing decision.

I'm seeing that the top candidates appear to be Brad Ausmus and Alex Cora. I wouldn't think this would excite Red Sox fans much.

I'm not panicking on the Cubs. These are two evenly matched teams but I think my guys know what to do in an elimination game more that the other guys. That will be tested tonight.

I defend my D-Backs pick. All the matchups, all the numbers pointed to them being the better team. I still don't buy the Dodgers and think they'll be eliminated by whoever wins tonight.

The Yankees are the real deal. They win it 6.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:I'm seeing that the top candidates appear to be Brad Ausmus and Alex Cora.

I'm also hearing Varitek's name. The way these things usually go, I assume Varitek would be a very popular choice. I have no clue whether he can actually manage.

beantownbubba wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:I'm seeing that the top candidates appear to be Brad Ausmus and Alex Cora.

I'm also hearing Varitek's name. The way these things usually go, I assume Varitek would be a very popular choice. I have no clue whether he can actually manage.

For what it's worth, Rotoworld is reporting that Ron Gardenhire is on the short list as well. I'm unsure of why he didn't have another managerial position after receiving his pink slip in 2014. I really liked him with Minnesota.

Not sure if he would leave Arizona, but I would feel like some of the big money clubs would at least call about Torey Lovullo.

Cubfan06 wrote:

beantownbubba wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:I'm seeing that the top candidates appear to be Brad Ausmus and Alex Cora.

I'm also hearing Varitek's name. The way these things usually go, I assume Varitek would be a very popular choice. I have no clue whether he can actually manage.

For what it's worth, Rotoworld is reporting that Ron Gardenhire is on the short list as well. I'm unsure of why he didn't have another managerial position after receiving his pink slip in 2014. I really liked him with Minnesota.

Well, you know how Ausmus can manage and that's very, very badly so I'd be rooting for someone else and Varitek is as good as any I suppose. I would call Ausmus one of the 3 or 4 worst managers in the game.

Cubfan06 wrote:Ron Gardenhire is on the short list as well. I'm unsure of why he didn't have another managerial position after receiving his pink slip in 2014. I really liked him with Minnesota.

Agreed.

I only have the vaguest sens of Ausmus so can't really comment other than to say that it seems like there are better choices available.

Just spoke to one of my most baseball savvy friends and he reiterated how much he hated Farrell and how glad he is that Farrell's gone, so there's one perspective.

beantownbubba wrote:
Just spoke to one of my most baseball savvy friends and he reiterated how much he hated Farrell and how glad he is that Farrell's gone, so there's one perspective.

Wait. We just spoke?

beantownbubba wrote:

Cubfan06 wrote:Ron Gardenhire is on the short list as well. I'm unsure of why he didn't have another managerial position after receiving his pink slip in 2014. I really liked him with Minnesota.

Agreed.

I only have the vaguest sens of Ausmus so can't really comment other than to say that it seems like there are better choices available.

Just spoke to one of my most baseball savvy friends and he reiterated how much he hated Farrell and how glad he is that Farrell's gone, so there's one perspective.

Sometimes it's just time for guys to move on, and I get that, but he always seemed decent to me. Top 10 in the league at least. There are a lot of people that can't stand Joe Maddon in Chicago too.

After parting ways with Epstein (and hiring Dombrowski), Boston has gone from the largest analytic front offices in the league to one of the smallest.

Zip City wrote:After parting ways with Epstein (and hiring Dombrowski), Boston has gone from the largest analytic front offices in the league to one of the smallest.

Yeah, kind of crazy. I'm not a Dombrowski fan at all.

What a game last night. What a series. Both teams deserve a medal after those 5 highly competitive games. That Nationals team is so talented and gritty. Fortunately the Cubs prevailed at the end of the day.


Dusty Baker lead teams are 0-10 in their last ten close-out games. Dusty apparently continues to shy away from mound visits when his pitchers are losing their composure in big situations. I can relate Nationals fans. It's a frustrating thing and you deserve better with that superstar team.

Cubfan06 wrote:What a game last night. What a series. Both teams deserve a medal after those 5 highly competitive games. That Nationals team is so talented and gritty. Fortunately the Cubs prevailed at the end of the day.


Dusty Baker lead teams are 0-10 in their last ten close-out games. Dusty apparently continues to shy away from mound visits when his pitchers are losing their composure in big situations. I can relate Nationals fans. It's a frustrating thing and you deserve better with that superstar team.

I didn't think it was possible for a 4.5 hour baseball game to be compelling. I was wrong.

The Nationals are a very good team, Cubs should feel very fortunate to beat them.

You could probably spend about a decade analyzing all the moves that Madden and Dusty made last night.

It will be huge if the Cubs can steal one in LA given the way the rotation is now set up.

Cubfan06 wrote:What a game last night. What a series. Both teams deserve a medal after those 5 highly competitive games. That Nationals team is so talented and gritty. Fortunately the Cubs prevailed at the end of the day.


Dusty Baker lead teams are 0-10 in their last ten close-out games. Dusty apparently continues to shy away from mound visits when his pitchers are losing their composure in big situations. I can relate Nationals fans. It's a frustrating thing and you deserve better with that superstar team.

Craziest game I've ever seen in my life. I agree that both teams gave it their all but I suspect Gio Gonzales won't be a National next year. He looked like he was giving about 50% effort out there and his body language said anything but "elimination game". You hate to see that.

In contrast the performance from Wade Davis is one for the ages. That guy had nothing on his FB, the velo was borderline there but now movement whatsoever and shaky command and yet he got it done in the end. Big ass balls on that guy.

Mr. B wrote:

Cubfan06 wrote:What a game last night. What a series. Both teams deserve a medal after those 5 highly competitive games. That Nationals team is so talented and gritty. Fortunately the Cubs prevailed at the end of the day.


Dusty Baker lead teams are 0-10 in their last ten close-out games. Dusty apparently continues to shy away from mound visits when his pitchers are losing their composure in big situations. I can relate Nationals fans. It's a frustrating thing and you deserve better with that superstar team.

I didn't think it was possible for a 4.5 hour baseball game to be compelling. I was wrong.

The Nationals are a very good team, Cubs should feel very fortunate to beat them.

You could probably spend about a decade analyzing all the moves that Madden and Dusty made last night.

It will be huge if the Cubs can steal one in LA given the way the rotation is now set up.

Obviously Arrieta, Lester, and Hendricks aren't going to be available. Lackey is clearly an option for Game 1, although not an ideal option. It would make for compelling television as this would be the last time that John Lackey ever steps foot on a mound. I would wonder about Quintana's availability to start. He only threw 12 pitches last night in the game.

I'll be rooting for LA and Houston. Would love to see Chase Utley win another ring.

Incredible game last nite. The proverbial nobody should have to lose kind of game. When neutral fans watch until all hours you know it was special.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:There are a lot of people that can't stand Joe Maddon in Chicago too.

You need a license to do just about everything except be a parent and call in to talk radio. But now they're not just morons, they're spoiled morons.

Zip City wrote:After parting ways with Epstein (and hiring Dombrowski), Boston has gone from the largest analytic front offices in the league to one of the smallest.

Did not know this but am not surprised. I am surprised that John Henry is ok w/ it.

Cubfan06 wrote:Obviously Arrieta, Lester, and Hendricks aren't going to be available. Lackey is clearly an option for Game 1, although not an ideal option. It would make for compelling television as this would be the last time that John Lackey ever steps foot on a mound. I would wonder about Quintana's availability to start. He only threw 12 pitches last night in the game.

I don't know if Lackey will start or not but it won't be his last start regardless. He doesn't want to retire and with how he pitched in the second half I'm certain someone will give him a 1 year deal at $9-$10 mil.

Since Cleveland is gone, definitely hoping Houston can pull it out. I could live with the Cubs again, but the Dodgers or Yankees would make me sick.